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Hi! This is a great update! I think the number 1 tool right now if going to be planning at the speed of Tessa 🙂 Your FAST run experience really brought it home – your plans are good but then we need to add in her speed (especially how quickly she will get out of tunnels).
Try to overestimate her speed for now – practice things where she is going faster than a living creature can actually go 🙂 I think this might actually help you feel like you have time to get things done on course, because decisions will be based on her immense speed (and yes, rear crossing is a very good thing to work on with her!)>> During my last JWW run, a lovely, flowing, Sunday “everybody goes home with a green ribbon” course,
I have found that when you run a powerhouse like Tessa or my Voodoo, there is no such thing as an “everybody goes home with a green ribbon” course 🙂 Every course is a game of inches at a zillion miles per hour, win it all or blow up trying 🙂 So fun!
T
Good morning!
Really good stuff and lots of detail in your routines here!
Some thoughts & ideas for you:>>I try to feed the dogs but on trial morning my dogs are to excited to eat so they don’t. Even special delicious breakfast will not be eaten. I do try to get them to eat some extra cheese or other treats frequently during the day.
hmmmm, this is interesting! I definitely want my dogs to eat something to help power their brains and bodies – it is easy to get terriers and papillons to eat (piggies!) but much harder with BCs. Can you try getting them to eat first thing before they figure out it is a trial (if you are at home?) . Or maybe do a shaping session with a bit of breakfast as reward? I would think that eating a good breakfast is as important for the dogs’ physical and mental endurance as it is for our physical and mental endurance 🙂
And I agree with the concept of a good warm up being 10 to 15 minutes long – I have gotten the same advice from the professionals. It starts with walking, then trotting, then active stretching, then builds to explosive behaviors right at the end before the run.
>>Working on the dog’s mental warm up is something I really need. Normally I ask for a right/left, sits and downs. But I don’t think this is enough.
Yes, you might need to expand the toolbox to whip other things out. You can add tricks like paw lifts, barking in cue, backing up, chin holds, etc – this tricks offer a variety of ways to help focus the dogs.
>>Depending on who is ringside with me, I am usually trying to calm down Rolex.
You can do precision tricks for him (paw lifts or chin holds) as he will have to center himself to be correct. Or you can experiment with letting him alternate between precision tricks and wild releases to see if you can find the balance. My highest dogs needed this balance of a bit of precision and a bit of go-wild to get the right focus in the ring.
>>Psychic I need to keep his nose off of the ground. So their mental warm up is different.
Sniffing might be his way of coping with the excitement/pressure of the environment, so you can build in tricks alternating with permission to sniff and see how he does. My oldest dog, Export, would almost always sniff at the start line for a moment as we were moving in. I allowed it, and mixed in some tricks so I could help him be ready. He was great about being focused on course!
>>Prior to entering the ring I connect strongly with my dog. One relaxing technique that a vet told me about is stroking the dog from the top of their head to their tail set as this has a calming effect.
The dog will tell you if it indeed has a calming effect LOL!!! There is no real science on that, so it is purely based on the likes/dislikes of each individual. I have seen MANY dogs (especially BCs) really hate this LOL! They are fully focused on the work ahead and are kind of like, “dude, why are you touching me?!?!?!” I am like a BC in that way – if I am about to go into the ring and someone comes up and starts stroking my back, I would shy away from it too haha! So when you do it, watch the dog’s reaction – does he lean into it? Or does he crouch away?
>>When entering the ring, I ask the dog to sit and wait as I enter the ring first. I head directly to our set up mark, ask for a sit while I remove his collar, if we have a tunnel first I mark the tunnel and tell the dog to stay as I move to where I want to be to start our run. While leaving my dog I always talk with the dog as I feel this keeps our communication going.
>>After our run we celebrate and take a walk while I mentally review our run. After the dog has been rewarded and cooled down I put them back in the crate. As soon as I can I like to review our video looking for things we did well and things that I need to set up and work next week.These are both really good!!
TracyHi Nelci!
These are very good agility-specific affirmations! I suggest you also have general affirmations, not related to agility handling 🙂 Base these off of things that might make you nervous or things you are not confident of. The handling affirmations are good, but try to balance with affirmations that can pump you up and have nothing to do with handling.
Looking forward to your thoughts from the UKI trial!T
Hello and welcome to the Aussie-fest LOL! Looking forward to meeting Spot!!!!
Here’s how to change your photo:
Our LMS software pulls profile images from a popular profile image service called Gravatar. You can create an account at Gravatar.com using the same email address that you use on agility-u.com. Then follow these instructions to upload your profile photo over on Gravatar:
https://en.gravatar.com/support/activating-your-account/Has it really been 6 YEARS??? Wow! Welcome back! I am looking forward to seeing sweet baby Voltie in action!!!
T
Hello and welcome! I am glad you hopped in first 🙂 I am looking forward to seeing Josie in action!!!!!
Tracy
Hi Tom!
Did you feel the music was able to fade into the background as you did the walk through? Or did it remain in the foreground? Maybe too distracting of a choice?>>One thing I’ve started doing with course maps is looking at them one run at a time. When I would look at all 3 or 5 at once, I would have too many plans bouncing around in my head.
Yes! One at a time is a great plan, especially when you don’t need to walk more than one at a time. The learn “3 or 4 at once” is a skill for big events and is something to tackle *after* your routine on one course is solid and comfy 🙂 Then you can try adding another course to it, especially when you might have a 2 ring trial on the calendar. The most I ever had to learn & walk at once was 6 courses in 6 rings, and it was definitely brain-bending LOL!!!!
>>Another thing I’m working on with him is starting our run setup outside the ring, having him come thru the gate with focus, and maintaining that focus to the start line. I’ll set him up and ask for a jump up or hand touch before the lead out. Having him working while coming in is seeming to help him ignore his ghosts.>>
Yes! There is plenty of good science behind having come in doing tricks and playing with you. Mainly, it changes his state of arousal that is more likely to help distractions fade into the background. For dogs that find people or “ghosts” to be worrisome, we have found that higher energy tricks like jump up or hand touch or even bark-on-cue are GREAT for kicking those ghosts to the curb!!!!
Tracy
Good morning!
>>Okay to be sure I understand it correctly : Run reminders ( #3 goal setting – C ) would be a specific list like – Tanner = distance ,verbal cues, body specific cueing , A – frame contact verbal cue ( rrrrrrr)Run reminders in #6 g : ( general reminders for me) before releasing from start line – eye contact, release word, dog moves then I move. or Buddy : bar setter close to jump 9 talk to buddy keep his focus
or is it the same for each # just perhaps more specific on the specific course I am running. >>I think you can have 2 lists of run reminders:
list #1 is the list of specific things you need to help you remember for each dog: such as, remember to use your verbal cues with Tanner. This list also serves as the basis for list 2:
list #2 can be “in the moment” based on your performance goals for the specific course. For example: execute the connection on the exit of the blind cross 3-4. Stay connected at the start and talk to Buddy after tunnel #10 because the bar setter is very close.>>Which then thinking about example I used for buddy ( above) made me think that 1.) this would be a trial distraction ?? in the fact that and this would include my mind thinking : “ooohh fantastic bar setter is sitting so close to jump 9 Buddy is going to go visit” “How am I going to handle this one if I can’t keep is focus” ( which would be bad mind preparedness thought before the run because I have already started visualizing the negative in that are. Instead I should think ” woohoo a chance to work on his focus by talking more to him in that area” therefore my visualization is already thinking positive and remember what Buddy needs from me to help keep his focus when we get to that area.
Yes, good point – it is a trial distraction for you but a training distraction for him. And since we aren’t training him at a trial (we are just seeing “where” he is in the training) then you can work on the bar setter situation, for example, as just a distraction for you: you can’t control the bar setter being there, but you CAN control your reaction and you can set a performance goal of how you are going to help the dog.
Plus, yes, in visualizations at home – practice having a bar setter or leash runner being waaaaay to close and visualize successfully working through it! I practice this at home in terms of having intimidating people or big crowds watching my runs!
>> Which then would also include performance goals ( if he has been learning what we have been practicing with not visiting people) he will stay focus on me…Outcome goal ( what ever choice Buddy decides to do) ,,
Performance goal would be something *you* can do… talk to him, cheer him, a specific handling move, for example. But he may or may not respond 🙂 That has nothing to do with the performance goal. A successful performance might be that you remembered to stay connected & talk to him! Yay! But his training might not be ready for that, so you still might have an outcome fail that causes you to keep training it. It falls into the category of “the joys of working with dogs” LOL!!!
Here’s an example: at the US Open, there was a really hard weave entry where the dog had to push away from me on the flat out of a straight tunnel & then the dog had to stay in (turning away from me) while I moved laterally away to the next cross. My performance goal was to send to the jump before the tunnel and really convince him to leave me so I could get past the tunnel exit and cue the weave entry. I did it! He went and took the jump and the tunnel and I got him into the weave entry! Yay for the handling!
But, it was a really hard skill and his training was not fully ready for it – so he got into the entry then questioned himself so he popped out at pole 4.
Was it a performance goal fail? Nope! I nailed the performance goal of the handling choice & execution (I was very happy with myself for that haha!)
Was it a training fail? Yes, absolutely. Which means it is still totally my fault because these dogs try SO HARD and he just didn’t fully understand the question I was asking. Good boy! I will train it. And I will give myself a high five for nailing the performance goal of the handling execution. Yessssss 🙂
Let me know if that makes sense!
>>Now when I through out Buddy example ( which is the story of my runs with buddy LOL) I noticed my breathing changing which I would need to remember to adjust while in my warm up to the line.
That is really cool! So my question is… when your breathing changed here at the computer, what did you do? You recognized it, which is great! You can then use breathing methods and release valves and reframing to bring your breathing down, or do a quick visualization of a successful moment to help bring your breathing back to center. Do this at home or anywhere you feel this change, so it becomes automatic – and you can do it at a trial easily without having to think about it 🙂
Is that about right in what we have been learning thus far???>>okay now on to BRAVE REMINDERS: I honestly never thought that a list I started years ago on quotes would really come in handy for a class. I refer to many of them , some I have already memorized.. but woohoo lol!!
ALL the wonders you seek are within yourself – Sir Thomas Browne
We do not remember days we remember moments _ Cesare Paverse
Faith doesn’t get you around trouble , it gets you through it. — touch by angel
Sometimes endings are just opportunities — touch by angel
The shortest distance between two points is always under construction — Leo Aikman
Nothing is impossible the word itself says ” I’m Possible”!! – Audrey Hepburn
The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid. – Psalm 118:6 >>I LOVE these! Goosebumps!!!!
here is one that I use all the time for myself. It is from the Bible, I believe, not sure exactly where:
“If not now, when? If not me, who?”
It is a good one for bravery too 🙂>>Another quick question I print out a few days ahead so I can read them in my free time or time I have allotted for study. Is there Suppose to be something written on Day 21 “Practical routines summing up” ? Cause there is nothing there.>>
Hmmmm, let me go look! There is supposed to be something there!
>>I can’t get it figured out how to upload just the picture. IT keeps asking to enter to the url of the image and its just a jpeg image. MMM.. any other ideas.? ooh wait I just remembered that we are friends on fb I will send you a message with the picture of You Toby and I there.
Thank you for the photo! I will ask the tech guru behind the scenes how to do it 🙂
T
Welcome! There is no such thing as late to THIS party 🙂 Great to see you here!!!!
>>Like most folks I warm my dog up, but neglect to warm up myself properly.
It is a continuing weakness of mine as well… I am perpetually reminding myself to get moving LOL!
>>It never occurred to me to find a quiet spot or rest my mind during the trial… I can see where those would be beneficial. Those I’ll have to add to my routine.
Try it! Even a short power nap during long trial days… you will be amazed at how much rest can help!
>> Sometimes it is very hard to stay positive and to keep the smile on my face. I train so hard that and know my dogs are capable of performing well but sometimes the ut ohs are my responsibility and yes…. I beat myself up over it. However I am getting better at not doing this.
Fake it til ya make it! I TOTALLY understand how sometimes we just want to go feel badly somewhere or have a good cry. But, faking the positive even when you don’t feel it will quickly turn it around into truly feeling it. Smile! Stand up straight! Practice your gratitude challenge! You will feel like a total faker for the first bit but you will find that it does indeed help you truly feel positive and happy 🙂
>>After our runs, I like to either watch the video or do a mental review. I try to find three things we did well and if there are things we need to work on I write in my “Training Notes for Next Week.”
I like this!
>>I’m very good about arriving in plenty of time to exercise myself and dogs. As soon as the course maps are out, I start memorizing them and deciding where I need to put my crosses. I can’t totally decide on what cross until I walk the course. After walking the course, I find a marker dog so I know when to get my dog out to exercise him and loosen him up before running. If possible before getting my dog out, I like to watch several teams to see how the course runs and see if there is a place that is giving other teams issues. IF so, I analyze those areas and find options that might be possible for me to use. I also like to watch a team that runs similar to the way we do. Before heading toward the ring, I make sure I have either treats or toys depending on the dog I am running as well as a bottle of water.>>
This is so much good stuff! Yay! I think you have a lot of good routine going already. We will keep looking to see where we can strengthen it!
T
Hi there!
>>Can you refresh my memory on how we comment below an existing comment. Did we just cut and paste into a new comment box then go from there?
There are several ways – there is a reply button just above this (upper right of this box) as well as a Quote box you can choose. Or, copy & paste is great – I do that, very old school but effective hahaha
>>Anyway, as far as the visualization goes, when I was on the fencing team in college and working with a sports psychologist, they had us visualize a “perfect bout” prior to the actual bout. I guess that’s because fencing didn’t provide any walk-thrus lol So I guess that’s why I try to visualize the course even before walking it so now I will just memorize the course prior to walking it and visualize it afterward
Interesting! What would the perfect bout entail? I am guessing it is about choosing your best offensive moves and visualizing how you would defend against the moves of the opponent? Does perfect bout visualization assume a certain performance from the opponent? Visualizing our runs assumes a certain performance from our partner LOL! And true, we get walk throughs in agility. I suppose my interest in NOT visualizing before the walk through is that our visualization for agility has a massive element of spatial awareness and also rehearsal of connection relative to the dogs & obstacles. And I personally find the early visualizations get locked in quickly, so it becomes a lot harder to change if I visualize it incorrectly.
Tel me more about the perfect bout visualizations! Each sport is different. I know that Greg Louganis would visualize the perfect dive long before he got onto the diving platform!
T
Hi!
The tempo should match your pace as best as possible, so up-tempo songs are generally better. But the science says that a “hook” is critical – the hook is the little melodic ditty that stands out of the song and is repeated a lot and sticks in your ear. Havana has a clear hook (I like that song!) and I Gotta Feeling is basically all about the hook with the title in it LOL! For some reason I can’t remember that Van Halen song (I’m blaming lack of coffee haha) but Van Halen usually has great hooks!!
TGood morning!!
>>On average would you recommend only tackling 3 or 4 performance goals per trial or session so one does not get overwhelmed?
This is a great question!!! It depends on where you are in your partnership with each dog or in the sport in general. For example, with a less experienced dog and in a new level to you (or really challenging course), I suggest one performance goal, such as see him land from each jump and exit each tunnel. When you and the dog have a more experienced partnership or if the course is simpler, you can add more. I’ve found that focusing on one or two main performance goals can also help the other goals fall into place nicely 🙂
>>I have so many that I would like to achieve. I think it will take me probably 6 months or more of physically doing/practicing.
6 months is a good time frame. I’ve found that these skills need to be practiced then revisited to keep them sharp. It is like learning to play a musical instrument.
>> You know the saying…. “Rome was not built in a day” (lol).
1000% true!!
>>Big outcome goals I sort of avoid. It just produces anxiety. I have enough to fill my plate in performance I think.
I completely agree on both of these, I feel the same way. Focus on performance and the outcome will take care of itself.
>> Honestly, I was told that I am @ the bottom 20% of students my instructor teaches and she could not change things up for low level or so so client : ( A bit shocking and I think that was about the lowest feeling one can have after working so hard.>>
Whoa, that is shocking to me. And it makes me feel low too, just reading it 🙁 I’m sorry you had to hear that. Judging from your threads here, though, it is also not true. Turns out that you are an insightful and motivated student who loves the dog and loves the sport! That puts you in the top 10%, based on my experiences with online classes AND in-person training. So use your mental prep techniques to put away that ugly comment (have you seen the part about visiting rooms :)) and move forward, focusing on skills and goals.
>>> It’s taken a lot of mental fortitude to pull up by the bootstraps.
Truth!!! But here you are, doing it, so good job on the strong mental game!!!
>>>Doing what’s best for me I decided to gain further agility knowledge where I can elsewhere. It’s been a bit scary breaking out to find another path (lol).
Yay!!!! And it is scary and exciting all at once, but the best is ahead of you. Surround yourself with people who believe in you and your dog!
>> It’s times like these that gratitude and life balance has been instrumental to put it all in perspective. I can walk, I can run (maybe not as fast as some but we decently do it), my dog enjoys working with me and I have friends that are a huge support*
I love this <3 and it is so true!
>>My performance goals for next trial:
Maintain connection, improve speed via visualization, improve timing, understand multiple path options.These are good ones! Make them even more specific such as outlining *exactly* what good timing is. For example:
“When he exits the tunnel, I’m going to use my jump cue and start the blind cross so I am finished in time to see him jumping the next jump”>Keep myself healthy (i.e. continue gym program).
This is more of a long term performance goal, and a very good one!
>>Long term performance:
Develop more verbal cues for areas such as back sides, understand and develop footwork better. Use my body as a whole (shoulders to feet) to guide my dog. (Yep sometimes the top half is fine and the bottom forgets where to point lol). Use arms better. Develop blind cross, and new turning cues.These are great training goals! Make a list and prioritize, so you don’t try to get everything done all at once.
Great thoughts here!!!
Tracy
Hi there!
Yes, I’d love to see the photo, I think you can post it here!
And it sounds like you have many lovely things in life to keep agility nicely in balance – family, friends, church family, antiques – awesome!!!!About the run reminders – partially the list includes the strength of each dog, so you remember to use them. And partially it includes reminders for you that help support the strengths and support weaker areas in case you have to use that skill or obstacle. These are super specific. The run reminders can include these and also include more general things to remember as you gear up to run 🙂
TracyHi Lyn!
>>I used this a lot to learn techniques as a neonatal nurse practitioner and it helped a lot.’
That is so cool! What a brilliant and useful application!!!
>> I have also used this in agility classes, but have not used at Trials! I will have to keep in mind to visualise Ace or Black Jack at the tempo they run not the one that makes the course work perfectly. I will plan to see myself doing the crosses at the time and place they need to be! I think this is a great technique and one I should be able to grow.
Yes, definitely make the time to do it at trials! And I think I saw you posted a video of a dancing routine too? So cool! And that is another place you can use your visualizations 🙂
T
